Cabinet Okays Rs 1,507-Crore Kota-Bundi Airport, Rs 8,307-Crore Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Ring Road Projects
The nod for the two projects, cumulatively worth over Rs 9,800 crore, came during the Cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi on Tuesday.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday has approved two projects worth Rs 9,814 crore. The first project is for a new airport in Kota-Bundi, Rajasthan. The government has set an outlay worth Rs 1,507 crore for the project.
The Rajasthan government has transferred 440.06 hectares of land to Airports Authority of India for development of a Greenfield Airport, suitable for operation of A-321 type aircraft, as per an official release.
The project includes construction of a terminal building spanning an area of 20,000 sqm capable of handling 1,000 peak hour passengers with annual capacity of 2 million passengers per annum, runway, apron with seven parking bays for A-321 type aircraft, two Link taxiways, ATC cum technical block, fire station, car park and allied works.
The project was approved as the existing airport cannot be developed for commercial operations due to inadequate land availability and urbanisation around the airport.
The existing Kota Airport comprises a runway suitable for Code 'B' aircraft, and an apron capable of accommodating two such aircraft. The terminal building is only capable of handling 50 passengers during peak hours.
Odisha Ring Road Project
The second project worth Rs 8,307 crore is for a six-lane ring road in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
The Rameshwar–Tangi corridor on the existing National Highway faces severe congestion due to heavy traffic through Khordha, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. To ease pressure, a six-lane access-controlled greenfield highway has been approved, diverting commercial traffic from urban areas and improving freight efficiency while lowering logistics costs.
The alignment will link with three national highways and one state highway, enhancing connectivity across Odisha. It will also integrate with 10 economic nodes, 4 social nodes and 5 logistics nodes, alongside key infrastructure including a major railway station, an airport, a proposed multi-modal logistics park and two ports, strengthening multi-modal transport.
On completion, the project will boost regional trade, industry and tourism, while creating about 74.43 lakh person-days of direct and 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment, driving socio-economic growth across Odisha and neighbouring states.
